In January 1933, Adolf Hitler, a popular German politician who had launched his career in the beer halls of Munich, reached the top of German government in a political compromise.

Known for inflammatory speeches and for his stances against Jews and Communists, Hitler won supporters by speaking out against the post-World War I terms that had punished Germany. Those terms, written in the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, weakened the German military, seized control over some of its industry, and took away some of its territories.

In the U.S., Hitler's rise was front-page news and, for some, cause for worry.

The [Philadelphia] Evening Bulletin, January 30, 1933

Hitler Selected as Chancellor in Divided Cabinet

Adolf Hitler today was named Chancellor of Germany and the Republic has entered upon an adventure whose ending cannot be foreseen.

Hitler, 43-year-old chief of the National Socialists or Nazis, is not dictator of Germany and insofar his dream has not come true.

Hitler Amazing in Action

It is obvious that the old Field Marshal [and President, Paul von Hindenburg] does not in the slightest degree intend to give Hitler a carte blanche or allow him to install Fascism and a permanent dictatorship of his Brown-shirts, if it can be prevented.

The question is, can it be prevented?

The President wants to tame Hitler and make him serviceable to a national conservative, but not to a Fascist State. Hitler has obviously other notions and, whatever controls President von Hindenburg may have thought well to spin around him, the fact remains that his appointment as Chancellor is a stupendous event.

In approximately 14 years Hitler has brought into being the greatest popular movement Germany has ever seen -- one of the greatest that history registers. This insignificant appearing little man with a Charlie Chaplin moustache is one of the world's greatest demagogues and a first class politician....

Hitler's energy is simply colossal; he is the hardest working politician in Europe. His capacity for traveling and speechmaking -- he can talk, hour after hour to a crowd which he has managed to lay hold of and will not let go -- is unrivaled in the contemporary world.

Controls Gigantic Organization

His importance does not lie in anything he says, but in the fact that he has managed to organize and capitalize on all of the many sorts of dissatisfaction that honeycomb contemporary Germany.

Furthermore, he controls an enormous party organization....

From time to time he has declared his intention of repudiating the Versailles Treaty, the reparations, and all other "unjust burdens" which the Allies place upon his country.

"Heads will roll!" he shouted in one speech, and the slogan has echoed through many campaigns. Lately, however, there have been indications of moderation.

The Cleveland Press, January 30, 1933

Hindenburg Names Hitler Chancellor after Compromise

Adolph Hitler rose to power in Germany today on the rising tide of his militant Fascism.

The desperate political experiments of the last two years were culminated when President Paul Von Hindenburg entrusted the chancellorship to the fiery little Austrian from Munich, foe of Jews and Communists and leading exponent of a belligerent German nationalism....

Official comment was withheld on his appointment today on the ground that it was an internal German affair. But several authorities indicated they had faith that Hitler would act with moderation compared to the extremist agitation on his recent election campaigning much of which was regarded outside Germany as highly "inflamatory."

Hitler once promised that when he attained power "heads will roll." He has denounced the Treaty of Versailles and been regarded in France and Poland as a potential threat to the peace of Europe. But many authorities here believed his acquisition of power might be better for Germany and for Europe that the alleged menace of his shadow constantly hovering near power as it has for two years. Experts based this belief on past events showing that so-called "radical" groups usually moderated, once in power.

The Cleveland Press, January 31, 1933

Herr Hitler

Appointment of Hitler as German chancellor may not be such a threat to world peace as it appears at first blush... In any event, it is important to remember that Hitler is a tool of the big industrialists, the Ruhr magnates, who have helped to finance his movement and furnished most of the brains for its leadership. Though those industrialists are nationalists, it is not likely that they will permit Hitler to provoke a foreign war at this time.

The [Chicago] Daily Jewish Courier, February 6, 1933

Race Fanaticism and Anti-Semitism

For the race fanaticism which is raging today in Europe and especially in Germany, the Jews are an alien, hostile, entirely inferior race...

An Adolf Hitler proudly proclaims, "A people of pure race, conscious of its blood, will never be enslaved by the Jew." This statement is just as characteristic of the blind nationalism and race fanaticism of the Hitler movement, as it is in opposition to reason...

But, the worst of it is that the masses give credence to such madness, and in times of chaos as today, place more trust in such perversions than in religion and logic or in the ideals of religion -- humanity and the rapprochement of peoples. There is no rational answer to the irrationalism of this race ideology which incites hatred and annihilation.